Oct. 20 killing is tied to 19-year-old who was out on bail

By MICHAELANGELO CONTE - JERSEY JOURNAL - JAN 6

The investigation following Wednesday night's shooting led to the arrest of a 19-year-old Jersey City man on an unrelated murder charge, officials said.

Jalil Spears, who lives in the Montgomery Gardens Public Housing Complex, was arrested Thursday night and charged with felony murder in the death of Antwon Hill, 19, of Jersey City, Hudson County Prosecutor Edward DeFazio said yesterday.
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Hill was shot once in the chest on Oct. 20 in the parking lot of the Montgomery Shopping Plaza across Montgomery Street from the public housing complex, reports said. Investigators allege that Spears and another man were robbing Hill at the time he was fatally shot, DeFazio said.

"Hill was found with money and drugs on him, and apparently the robbery went awry and they fled the scene without taking the intended proceeds," DeFazio said. "The second man has not been positively identified as of yet, although we have leads."

The investigation into Wednesday night's shooting of the 19-year-old Jersey City woman on Van Cleef Street and Woodlawn Avenue led to Hill's arrest, DeFazio said. That woman was hit twice in one shoulder and three times in the pelvic area, but her wounds were not life threatening, police said.

DeFazio would say little on how Wednesday's shooting led to Spears' arrest. He remarked only: "There was an investigative link between the recent shooting and the investigation into the Antwon Hill homicide."

By 7:30 p.m. on Thursday, investigators went to Spears' home looking for him, but he was not home. Later that night they tracked him down and formally charged him at the Duncan Avenue homicide squad office.

"It is not known if he was the shooter in the case, but he was clearly involved in the armed robbery that went awry, and therefore liable under felony murder doctrine," DeFazio said.

In September, Spears pleaded guilty to the unlawful possession of a handgun in connection with a Union City arrest on April 26, DeFazio said, adding that at the time of the Antwon Hill murder, Spears was out on a $35,000 bail bond.

Hill had been arrested on Oct. 3 at the Booker T. Washington Public Housing Complex and charged with weapons offenses after police caught him with a loaded semiautomatic handgun. Hill was out on a $40,000 bail at the time he was killed, DeFazio said.